Brian Shock to take job at Alamogordo

Brian Shock in three years at Cliff High School led the Cowboys to two state Class A championships and a final-four appearance in his first year.

On Tuesday, Shock announced that he will be leaving Cliff and taking the boys’ basketball job at Alamogordo High School.

“In making the decision, our family took into account work opportunities for both Chelsea [Brian’s wife] and I,” Shock said. “We really could identify with the culture and climate being created in [Alamogordo’s] school district. We also looked at academic, athletic and extracurricular activity opportunities for our kids.”

Shock said one of the toughest things he had to do was tell next year’s returning Cowboys the news on Monday.

“As far as Cliff’s team next year, I expect to see those guys playing for the district championship and beating up on the two-A schools in the state tournament,” Shock said. “I know those guys have the talent to do so. All I have for those returning players is a whole lot of love, and wish them the absolute best.” Shock led the Cowboys to the state Class A championship the past two seasons and they were the district champions in each of his seasons at the school. He led the Cowboys to a 76-12 record.

The Cowboys were 45-1 against Class A and Class AA teams, 15-7 against Class AAA teams, and 16-1 against Class AAAA schools.

In the district, Cliff was 21-0 and had a 10-1 record in the state basketball championships.

Shock was named the New Mexico Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year for all classes in 2015. He was named the District Coach of the Year all three years at Cliff and was named the New Mexico Class A Track Coach of the Year, also in 2015.

He has also been selected to coach the Class A/AA South All-Star team.

Shock, who had been coaching in the northwest corner of the state, returned to Cliff to coach with his dad, Pete, for a season before taking over the head coaching duties the following season. Pete Shock has the second-best record ever in the state of New Mexico in basketball, just behind legendary Hobbs head coach Ralph Tasker.

“I feel extremely blessed to have coached with Dad at Cliff,” Shock said. “I learned many great things about coaching from him, but, more importantly, I learned the value of hard work and high expectations.

“I can’t even put into words what Dad has done for the Cliff Schools and the district,” he said. “There’s not many people that basically work free of charge by putting in many extra hours driving the bus, cleaning the gym, and encouraging kids on the court and in the classroom. He has been a great athletic director to work for that really cares for kids.”

Shock said leaving Cliff will be hard. “It’s home for me,” he said. “We just felt the opportunity in Alamogordo was great for our family. I’m really excited going to Alamogordo, and, hopefully, we can take our work ethic and love of the game to them.”

This past year, in Class AAAAAA, Alamogordo finished with a 9-19 record, and was 2-4 in the district. Next year, the Tigers will move down a class into Class AAAAA and will be in a district with Chaparral, Deming and Santa Teresa.

“It’s really tough to walk away,” Shock said about making the decision to go to Alamogordo. “There’s a hundred years of a winning tradition here, and, more importantly, I have a lot of family and friends here who we’ll miss dearly.

“I also want to give a special shout-out to my wife, Chelsea, and our three kids for being my rock and foundation,” he said. “Also, a big thanks and love you to Mom, Cindy, who has been keeping the scorebook in that gym for decades. Also, another thank-you to Heather and Shaun [Bird] for working the score table, and to Anne, Ralph and Brenda in keeping the gym running on game day.”

Another thing Shock said would be hard to leave is the youths in the Cliff area.

“Another really tough thing about leaving Cliff is what Chelsea, Stacey Baptiste, myself and lot of parents accomplished with the youth basketball program in Cliff this last year,” he said. “It was great to see a lot of young kids excited about basketball at such a young age. I wish each and every one of those kids the best in their athletic careers and I’m proud to have played a small role in that.”

Cliff will have to hire two basketball coaches for next season.

On the girls’ side, Audra Collard started the year as the head coach, but resigned in January. Kari Carter was named the interim coach at that time.

But, it is somewhat the end of an era in the Cliff Schools, as a Shock has played a role in the basketball program since the 1940s with Dale, Pete and Brian all playing and coaching at the school.